Yusuf’s voice breaks when he remembers his last glimpse of his house in Sere-Kaniye (Ras al-Ayn) while fleeing under shelling. It was 4:05 pm on the first day of Operation Peace Spring, carried out by Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) in October 2019.
Yusuf’s family house is occupied by a militiaman and his family. The militia is one of the many Turkish-backed groups that took part in the Turkish-led operation that displaced 200,000 Syrians.
Yusuf currently lives in Iraqi Kurdistan but he still hopes that one day he will return to Sere-Kaniye, his home.
This is the first episode of the short documentary series ‘Losing Home,’ a project that illustrates the pain and rage that hides behind Housing, Land and Property (HLP) violations.
